Rolling Stones – All The Girls In Hannover (Dog N Cat DAC-091)

The Rolling Stones’ 1982 tour of Europe lasted thirty-six dates beginning at the end of May. The first shows in West Germany were in the Neidersachsenstadion (Lower Saxony Stadium) in Hannover. Now called the AWD-Arena, the stadium was first built between 1952 to 1954 utilizing a large amount of debris from destroyed homes in Hannover during World War II in the foundation with an original capacity of 86,000. The Stones were the first musical act to play the Neidersachsenstadion when they began hosting musical events in 1982. Since then other acts such as Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Tina Turner, and Phil Collins, who filled the stadium on four consecutive days with altogether 240,000 fans, have all played there.

These two shows in Hannover are the first time the Stones played in Germany in six years, since they played the Neckarstadion in Stuttgart on June 19th, 1976. All The Girls In Hannover presents, in the best available sound quality, the two Hannover concerts. (The title of course comes from Jagger’s changing the lyrics in “Just My Imagination” from “all the girls in New York” to “all the girls in Hannover” in the June 6th show). Unlike many shows on the 1981 there has never been a vinyl release of these tapes and DAC’s predecessor label Vinyl Gang never touched them. Having them together in a four disc set makes it very convenient.

The June 6th show was pressed before on Hannover 82 (Idol Mind Production 030/031) released in the early nineties. The sound quality is very good and close to the stage although it is very evident it was taped outdoors. There is the whooshing and breathing on both of them. Dog N Cat tried hard to make this tape more listenable and come close to squeezing the treble into a metallic crunch. It is just enough to be noticeable at first but tends to disappear once you focus on the music.

Because this was the Stones’ first concert in the country in six years, there was a lot of publicity surrounding it. A private video of an hour of this show also exists and a part of “Under My Thumb” and “Satisfaction” was broadcast on Heute-Zournal on ZDF television. Tagesthemen on ZRD covered the Stones’ arrival at the airport and showed a clip of “Under My Thumb” and Tagesschau also showed a clip of the first song.

The set list for the European tour is similar to the American tour for including not only songs from their early career (songs which they previously avoided playing live in the seventies), but the copious amount of older rock, soul and R&B covers. The tape for the first Hannover show begins with the “Take The A Train” intro and Bill Graham introducing the band before they come out for “Under My Thumb.” The next few songs, “When The Whip Comes Down,” “Let’s Spend The Night Together,” and “Shattered” are delivered at a furious pace.

Mick asks if there’s anyone from Hamburg and Bremen since they are Hannover’s neighbors before starting “Neighbours.” “Black Limousine” is a “blues song” and the saxophones play such an important role in the sound, transferring the massive outdoor football stadium into a New York cabaret.

There is a power shortage just over two minutes into “Just My Imagination.” The seem to be worked and after “Going To A Go Go” Jagger ask if they’re fixes. He addresses the crowd “can you hear back there? Not really. We’re gonna do an old number from the fifties called ‘Chantilly Lace.'” Before “Time Is On My Side” Mick says that the song takes them back to when they first visited Germany in 1966. As the goes on the power is lost again about three minutes into this song and again drops five minutes into “Beast Of Burden” and five an a half minutes into “Let It Bleed” and continue into the opening of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” leaving a bewildered Jagger to carry on until the guitars return.

After Richards’ song “Little T & A” and “Tumbling Dice,” they play the second song in the set from Emotional Rescue “She’s So Cold” followed by the lastest single from the new album, “Hang Fire” released in April. Jagger thanks them all for coming for their first visit to Germany in six years before Richards plays the opening riff to “Miss You” in the wrong key. It takes them a few seconds until they figure out which one’s correct.

The sequence of the final four songs is revealing. Traditionally this is where they play their old classics to end the show on a bang and Keef gets them started with “Honky Tonk Women.” The give a scorching version of “Brown Sugar” followed interestingly by “Start Me Up,” the first single from the latest album and a song that had already (in their eyes) transcended into the pantheon of their catalogue. “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Satisfaction” end the show with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture played through the PA as a finale. Overall, despite the problems early on, this is an effective opening night in Germany.

The second Hannover show is by far the rarest of the two. The only previously available commercial title with this show is Hannover 82on Check This Out, a label that is quite obscure and very hard to find and they augment their release with four tracks from the 1981 US tour. The taper was close to the PA and was able to capture a reasonably clear recording with very little audience noise. It has a more natural timbre compared to the first night. And like the first night there is evidence of it begin taped outdoors. There several cuts between some songs but nothing destructive (except for the final few notes of “Tumbling Dice”). The sound quality of the final song of the night “Satisfaction” sounds drops so dramatically that it sounds as if it comes from antoher tape source, a higher generation of the same tape, or from a different night altogether.

The concert itself is also better than the first night. The power issues that plagued the first night are completely absent and the band sound much confident in their delivery. The set list is identical to the first Hannover show. The energy level differs, however, for whereas the first starts off energetic until the distractions in the PA, this night starts off slowly but builds nicely in momentum.

It becomes noticeable when Jagger asks before “Neighbours” if anyone comes from Hamburg and Bremen (“they are your neighbors”). The saxophone players Bobby Keys on tenor and Gene Barge on alto play a very strong role in the sound. The Stones have used horn sections for more than a decade at this point, but for no other tour before (or since) have the saxophones played such in integral role in their live sound for the Tattoo You US and European tours. Ernie Watts really souped up the sound in the US, but in Europe it is Barge who’s voice is heard bringing the cabaret sound into the music which serves to promote intimacy in otherwise very large venues.

Ron Wood plays a very bizarre solo in “Just My Imagination” after Mick sings about “all the girls in Hamburg” this time. The “old numbers from the fifties” comes off much better in this show without the PA problems of the previous night. Before “Let It Bleed” the guys by the recorder speculate “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” comes next. Someone misses a cue in this opening of the song. Jagger stops singing and waits for the bass to come in. “Let’s go again” he says and sings the first verse again.

The audience sings along to “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” The versions in Europe aren’t as potent as they were in America however. Richards sings “Little T & A,” a song that effectively replaced “Happy” in the set at this point and is followed by a joyful “Tumbling Dice.” Richards and Wood play in tune for “Miss You” this time and deliver a powerful version of the song with the beat getting the entire crowd up and dancing. The final salvo of “Start Me Up,” “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Satisfaction” (despite the poor sound quality) brings what is a great concert to a close. The recent releases by Dog N Cat have been hit and miss with some very good release like Helsinki 1970 and some very poor like Glasgow 1973. All The Girls In Hannover sounds very nice for both shows and is a solid collection from the 1982 tour.